Sejumlah pelajar melintasi banjir rob di Medan Utara, Medan, Sumatera Utara, Rabu (8/5/2024). Badan Meteorologi Klimatologi dan Geofisika (BMKG) Stasiun Meteorologi Kelas II Maritim Belawan memperkirakan banjir rob yang melanda daerah tersebut akan berlangsung hingga 11 Mei 2024 dengan tinggi air mencapai 2,7 meter. ANTARA FOTO/Yudi Manar/aww.
Banjir rob menerjang Kecamatan Medan Belawan, Kota Medan, Sumatera Utara. Namun, banjir tersebut ternyata dimanfaatkan warga untuk ramai-ramai berendam.
Dilansir detikSumut, pada hari Rabu, 08/05/2024, ramainya warga berendam saat banjir rob melanda Medan Belawan itu terlihat dalam sebuah video yang beredar di media sosial. Dalam video itu, terlihat warga berendam di sebuah jalan di Kecamatan Medan Belawan.
Anak-anak hingga orang dewasa terlihat menikmati banjir rob tersebut dengan riang. Lokasi tersebut berada di Bagan Deli, Kecamatan Medan Belawan.
"Air laut pasang atau banjir rob terjadi siang hari sekitar pukul 14.00 WIB hingga menjelang sore hari. Lokasi tersebut terjadi di daerah Bagan Deli, Belawan," tulis dalam video yang beredar di media sosial.
melintasi banjir rob di Medan Utara, Medan, Sumatera Utara, Rabu (8/5/2024). Badan Meteorologi Klimatologi dan Geofisika (BMKG) Stasiun Meteorologi Kelas II Maritim Belawan memperkirakan banjir rob yang melanda daerah tersebut akan berlangsung hingga 11 Mei 2024 dengan tinggi air mencapai 2,7 meter. ANTARA FOTO/Yudi Manar/aww
Plt Kepala BPBD Kota Medan Lilik mengatakan pihak Kecamatan Medan Belawan sudah mengeluarkan imbauan terkait adanya banjir rob. Dalam surat yang dikirim oleh Lilik, diketahui banjir rob berlangsung pada 5-11 Mei 2024.
"BMKG juga sudah menyampaikan itu dan pihak kecamatan juga sudah monitor," kata Lilik saat dihubungi.
Dalam surat imbauan itu, ketinggian air pasang berpotensi mencapai 2,7 meter. Banjir rob itu disebut dapat berdampak terhadap aktivitas di sekitar Medan Belawan.
Lilik menyebutkan jika pihaknya terus memonitor situasi banjir rob di Belawan melalui pihak kecamatan. Bantuan kepada masyarakat juga disebut sudah disalurkan.
"Relawan dan kecamatan sudh melakukan imbauan dan bantuan semampunya kepada masyarakat," tutupnya.
Seorang anak merapikan perkakas dapur di dalam rumahnya yang terendam banjir rob di Medan Utara, Medan, Sumatera Utara, Rabu (8/5/2024). Badan Meteorologi Klimatologi dan Geofisika (BMKG) Stasiun Meteorologi Kelas II Maritim Belawan memperkirakan banjir rob yang melanda daerah tersebut akan berlangsung hingga 11 Mei 2024 dengan tinggi air mencapai 2,7 meter. ANTARA FOTO/Yudi Manar/aww.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has confirmed reports that the United States paused a weapons shipment to Israel, as President Joe Biden’s administration faces growing pressure to condition aid to the top US ally amid the war in Gaza.
Testifying before a US congressional subcommittee on Wednesday, Austin said the Biden administration had paused “one shipment of high payload munitions” amid concerns about the Israeli military’s push to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
"We’ve been very clear … from the very beginning that Israel shouldn’t launch a major attack into Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians that are in that battlespace,” Austin told US lawmakers.
“We’ve not made a final determination on how to proceed with that shipment [of weapons],” the Pentagon chief added, noting that the transfer is separate from a supplemental aid package for Israel that was passed in late April.
“My final comment is that we are absolutely committed to continuing to support Israel in its right to defend itself.”
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, responded to the shipment pause by saying the US decision was “very disappointing”.
“[US President Joe Biden] can’t say he is our partner in the goal to destroy Hamas, while on the other hand delay the means meant to destroy Hamas,” Erdan said.
Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett, reporting from the White House on Wednesday, said the shipment included 1,800 bombs each weighing about 900kg (2,000lbs) and another 1,700 bombs each weighing 226kg (500lbs).
“There has been, leading up to this delay, significant concerns on the part of not only student protesters across the United States but also within the president’s own party … about how these weapons are being used,” Halkett said.
US Senator Bernie Sanders welcomed the Biden administration’s pause on the weapons transfer, but said it “must be a first step”.
“The US must now use ALL its leverage to demand an immediate ceasefire, the end of the attacks on Rafah, and the immediate delivery of massive amounts of humanitarian aid to people living in desperation,” Sanders said in a statement.
“Our leverage is clear. Over the years, the United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Israel.”
‘Iron-clad’ support
The Biden administration has faced months of criticism over its “iron-clad” support for Israel amid the Gaza war, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians and plunged the enclave into a dire humanitarian crisis.
But Washington has largely continued to provide military and diplomatic backing to Israel as the war grinds on.
Israel stepped up its bombardment of Rafah on Monday, killing dozens of people after ordering about 100,000 residents in the city’s eastern areas to evacuate.
Israeli troops also stormed the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, which serves as a major gateway for humanitarian aid.
Yet despite continuing to say it has concerns for the fate of the more than 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah, the US Department of State this week sought to play down the recent moves by the Israeli army.
“This military operation that they launched last night was targeted just to [the] Rafah gate,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Tuesday. “It wasn’t an operation in the civilian areas that they had ordered to be evacuated.”
Commenting on the paused US weapons shipment to Israel during a news briefing on Wednesday afternoon, Miller stressed that Washington remains “committed to Israel’s security” despite its opposition to a Rafah operation.
“We have paused one shipment of near-term assistance and we are reviewing others, but that said, our long-term commitment to Israel’s security has not changed,” he said.
Domestic pressure on Biden
Still, human rights advocates have urged the US to do more to pressure the country to end its war on Gaza, and President Biden faces mounting protests — including on US college campuses — over his stance.
A new poll released on Wednesday also suggested a growing disconnect between Biden and his Democratic Party base, which could pose a challenge as he campaigns for re-election in November.
The poll by Data for Progress, in collaboration with news website Zeteo, suggested that 56 percent of Democrats believed Israel was committing “genocide” in the besieged Palestinian territory.
It also found that seven in 10 American voters — and 83 percent of Democrats — also support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Hasan Pyarali, the Muslim Caucus chairman for College Democrats of America, the university arm of the Democratic Party, told Al Jazeera last week that many young people have signalled they will not vote for Biden in the upcoming election.
“It’s not just good policy to oppose the genocide; it’s good politics,” he said.
The United Nations defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”, including killings and measures to prevent births.
In January, the International Court of Justice — the UN’s top court — acknowledged there was a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and ordered Israel to take “all measures within its power” to prevent genocidal acts against Palestinians.
Israel has rejected the accusation that it is committing genocide.
Military parades, festive concerts and marches with old-time vehicles will be held across Russia in honor of the 79th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War.
In Moscow, the celebration will open with a ceremonial parade on Red Square at 10 a.m. Russian President Vladimir Putin will inspect the parade as commander-in-chief for the 21st time.
Also reviewing the parade will be presidents Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan, Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan, Serdar Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan, Miguel Diaz-Canel of Cuba, Thongloun Sisoulith of Laos, and Umaro Sissoco Embalo of Guinea-Bissau.
The parade commemorating the 79th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 fought by the USSR against Nazi Germany and its allies – a part of World War II – will take part on May 9 on the Red Square.
Military parades commemorating the 79th anniversary of Russia's victory over Nazism will take place on May 9 in seven hero cities, as well as in 18 cities housing the headquarters of military districts, fleets, and combined arms armies.
Other ceremonial events featuring garrison troops will be held in 314 settlements across the country.
With a staggering 150,000 participants and an array of 2,500 pieces of military equipment and weapons, these gatherings will be a testament to Russia's rich military heritage and enduring strength.
Each parade across Russia pays tribute to the valor and sacrifice of generations past, yet the parade on Red Square stands as the centerpiece event, owing to the capital's profound historic and cultural significance.`
On May 9, over 9,000 individuals and 70 military vehicles and weapon systems will participate in the Victory Parade on the Red Square featuring battalions and companies organized according to military types and branches, as well as crews from military schools, Youth Army members, female military personnel, Cossacks and a combined military orchestra.
This year, decorated officers and soldiers will arrive from the special military operation zone to march on the Red Square. Among them are recipients of prestigious awards such as the medal "For Courage" and "For Military Distinction," and the esteemed "Golden Star," the insignia of the Hero of the Russian Federation.
The finale of the event will feature the Russian Air Force's aerobatic teams, the Russkiye Vityazi (Russian Knights) and Strizhi (Swifts), who will showcase air maneuvers in highly maneuverable Su-30 and MiG-29 fighter jets.
Among other national military equipment, the following Russian-made weapons will be featured during the parade:
The legendary Soviet main battle tank T-34, renowned for its superior armor, formidable firepower and cast turret during World War II.
The BTR-82A, an advanced 8x8 wheeled armored personnel carrier (APC) has proven effective for military maneuvers, including hasty crossing of water obstacles, protecting the crew and troops against small arms fire, mines and shell fragments.
Typhoon-K armoured vehicles designed for transportation of personnel and cargo, also capable of being armed with Kornet-M anti-tank guided missiles — which make them effective tank destroyers.
The Tigr (Tiger) multipurpose all-terrain infantry mobility vehicle is designed to carry troops, escort and protect columns, patrol and support units with fire.
The mobile short-range ballistic missile system Iskander-M has become indispensable during the special military operation in Ukraine, obliterating the enemy air defenses and military assets. It can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads.
The S-400 Triumf (Triumph) is a state-of-art mobile surface-to-air missile system, which has proven highly capable during both Russia's Syria operation and the special military operation in Ukraine.
The Yars mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system, a vital component of Russia's nuclear triad, capable of launching nuclear missiles from land.
An exhibition of Ukrainian and NATO-supplied weapons and military equipment, captured from the enemy during a special military operation, has been on display in Moscow since May 1 as part of the Victory Day celebrations.
Among them are the US-made Abrams tank and Bradley infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), the German-made Leopard tank and Marder IFV, along with others made in the UK, Czech Republic, France and Finland. Over 83,000 people have visited the exhibition on the first day alone, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Ukrainian rescue workers extinguish a fire in the Kyiv region following Russian missile attacks on Wednesday. Ukrainian Emergency Service/AFP - Getty Images
Russian forces have launched a barrage of long-range precision weapons at Ukrainian targets, the Defense Ministry confirmed in its daily briefing on Wednesday.
Ukrainian officials earlier reported that Russia had inflicted damage to the country’s energy infrastructure overnight.
The Russian side said some of its targets were military factories rather than parts of the Ukrainian power sector. The strike involved drones and several types of missiles, including air-launched hypersonic Kinzhal weapons, the statement said, adding that the projectiles successfully hit all the intended sites.
The air assault was described by the Russian military as retaliation for “attempts by the Kiev regime to cause damage to Russian energy facilities.” The attacks “significantly reduced Ukraine’s ability to manufacture military products and transport Western arms and military vehicles to the frontline,” the ministry said.
Ukraine escalated attacks deep inside Russia with long-range kamikaze drones in January. Senior military officials in Kiev claimed that they have “no choice” but to try and destroy oil refineries and other industrial sites, since Ukrainian forces on the frontline are being pushed back. That apparently prompted Moscow to add Ukrainian power plants to its list of targets.
The latest Russian strikes, according to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, involved over 50 missiles and 20 drones aimed at infrastructure targets. The Ukrainian military claimed it intercepted most of the weapons, but DTEK, a major private energy company, stated that several of its thermal power plants were damaged.
Russian missiles and drones struck nearly a dozen Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities on Wednesday, causing serious damage at three Soviet-era thermal power plants and blackouts in multiple regions, officials said.
Ukraine's air force said it shot down 39 of 55 missiles and 20 of 21 attack drones used for the attack, which piles more pressure on the energy system more than two years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
"Another massive attack on our energy industry!" Energy Minister German Galushchenko wrote on the Telegram app.
Two people were injured in the Kyiv region and one was hurt in the Kirovohrad region, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.
Galushchenko said power generation and transmission facilities in the Poltava, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Vinnytsia regions were targeted.
Some 350 rescuers were racing to minimise the damage to energy facilities, 30 homes, public transport vehicles, cars, and a fire station, the interior ministry said.
Ukraine's national power grid operator Ukrenergo said it was forced to introduce electricity cut-offs in nine regions across, adding it might have to expand them nationwide during peak hours.
Officials urged Ukrainians to limit consumption.
Russia's defence ministry said it struck Ukraine's military-industrial complex and energy facilities with drones and high-precision missiles in what it described as retaliation for Kyiv's strikes on Russian energy facilities.
"As a result of the strike, Ukraine's capabilities for the output of military products, as well as the transfer of Western weapons and military equipment to the line of contact, have been significantly reduced," the ministry said.
The Yemeni militia has been targeting Israeli, US and UK-linked commercial vessels and warships operating in the Red and Arabian Seas since November 2023, vowing to continue their partial self-imposed blockade until Israel halts its campaign in Gaza, and flouting a recent attempt by Washington to bribe them into stopping their operations.
Yemen’s Houthis ramped up their attacks on commercial vessels on Tuesday, with the UK Maritime Trade Organization reporting that an unidentified merchant ship 82 nautical miles south of Aden, Yemen faced two explosions in “closest proximity” to the vessel. The vessel and its crew were unharmed.
The US military reported overnight Tuesday that it had shot down a Houthi drone over the Red Sea, and announced later in the day that the Dwight D. Eisenhower supercarrier had resumed its operations in the area after a brief port call for resupply. The American warship, deployed in the region since October 14 together with a squadron of missile destroyers, is expected to remain in there until at least “early summer,” according to US officials.
The new Houthi attacks come after a brief lull in militia activity, likely stemming from Palestinian militia group Hamas’s announcement Monday that it was ready to accept a ceasefire with Israel.
Israel declined the proposal, sparking a fresh regional escalation which besides Houthi attacks included new skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah on the Israeli-Lebanese border, and an attack by Iraqi militias targeting Israeli military bases and the Leviathan gas platform off Israel’s Mediterranean coast with drones.
The Houthis warned last week that an “aggressive military operation against Rafah” in Gaza by Israel would result in a fresh missile and drone assault by the militia.
Tuesday’s escalation follows an announcement by Houthi-affiliated media Monday that the group had uncovered and dismantled a large Israeli and US spy ring passing information to and carrying out sabotage operations in support of the two countries.
“These spies were recruited to work on collecting information and monitoring sites belonging to the Yemeni armed forces on the western coast of the Republic of Yemen for the American and Israeli enemy,” Saba News Agency reported.
The detained individuals reportedly confessed that in addition to intelligence collection, they were tasked with carrying out sabotage and assassination operations to distract the militia “from confronting the wicked US-British-Israeli trio, and from supporting the besieged Palestinian people.”
The report did not elaborate on how many suspects were detained, but unverified photos and videos shared on social media estimate it to be at least 18 people.
The Houthis “will spare no effort in carrying out their responsibility to secure the home front and protect it from infiltration attempts by the American and Israeli enemy,” the Yemeni news agency said.
Houthi missile and drone attacks and ship hijackings in the Red and Arabian Seas have resulted a dramatic drop in commercial shipping activity through the strategic bodies of water, with shipbroker company Clarksons recently estimating that commercial tonnage passing through the Gulf of Aden had dropped 69 percent in April compared to what it was in December, with LNG ship transits dropping to zero, and boxship transits down 89 percent.
The militia began its campaign in November with the seizure of the Israeli-owned Galaxy Leader ro-ro car carrier, with the self-imposed blockade launched after previous Houthi attempts to pressure Israel into halting its Gaza operations, including missile and drone attacks targeting Israel directly, failed to reach their targets.
Houthi drone and missile attacks in the Red Sea have struck and damaged nearly two dozen ships and sunk one UK-owned cargo ship so far, and the militia has also shot down several US MQ-9 Reaper drones. The militia calculated last month that US and British strikes on Yemen which began in January have killed nearly 50 Yemenis. Two Filipino sailors were killed, and six sailors injured in the militia's campaign to date. The Galaxy Leader and its crew remain in Houthi custody.
Russia’s Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops have spent over two years studying and publicizing sensitive documents and analytical materials on the extent of Pentagon, CDC and US biotech firms’ funding for unethical and potentially illegal military biological research in Ukraine and around the world.
US biodefense planners are preparing to release a 'bombshell' report calling on all levels of the US government to radically improve national biodefense measures and create a national strategy to address global biological threats.
The document, seen by Axios ahead of publication, was put together by the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, a panel of former high-ranking US officials and lawmakers, including senior former Clinton, Bush and Obama administration staff. The Commission, created in 2014 to “provide for a comprehensive assessment of the state of US biodefense efforts,” has called its new report the 2024 National Blueprint for Biodefense.
The ‘blueprint’ highlights the growing risks stemming from the outbreak of infectious diseases, bioweapons research and lab leaks, predicting that the number of biothreat incidents will increase over time, and urging policymakers to make major new investments in biodefense.
“We’re not putting enough emphasis on getting ahead of these biological threats,” Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense executive director Asha George said. George urged Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to spearhead a national biodefense effort and set up a deputy advisor post to deal with the job’s daily duties.
The Committee is asking Washington to create a unified federal biodefense budget, and multiyear funding for programs as part of an agenda featuring 36 separate recommendations, from the creation of a congressional working group and biodefense reviews once every four years, to amendments to the 1944 Public Health Service Act to “produce a research and development plan for reducing pathogen transmission in built environments.”
Curiously, the panel’s recommendations also feature a section on “emerging astrobiological threats,” warning about “the intersection of space exploration and infectious disease,” and of the possibility of space-based microorganisms being brought to Earth and posing a threat to the planet’s “human, animal, plant, or ecosystem health.”
Threats Closer to Home
Additional details on the contents of the report have yet to be publicized. However, based on the information made available by Axios, it will offer little if any data on the US government’s own role in creating, manipulating and spreading biological threats globally, starting with the National Institutes of Health gain of function research which may have sparked the global Covid-19 pandemic, to the operation of dozens of military-grade biolabs around the world, including in Ukraine, Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Russia’s Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops warned in January that Washington’s goals in the military-biological domain are multifold, ranging from the creation and manipulation of the causative agents of “particularly dangerous infections in regions of the world that are strategically important for the United States,” to efforts to achieve global “superiority” in biomanufacturing, biological monitoring, and the expansion of potentially unethical and illegal military biological research outside US jurisdictions.
RCBD Troops chief Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov has indicated that the US military bioresearch program “consists of government agencies and private contractors,” including representatives of big US pharmaceutical companies and that “through the organs of the executive branch, a legislative framework is being created to finance military-biological research directly from the federal budget.” In turn, Kirillov said, “guarantees provided by the state attract funds from non-governmental organizations,” including the Clinton, Soros and Rockefeller foundations.
NATO Goes All In on Transhumanism
The ‘2024 National Blueprint for Biodefense’ report comes less than a month after the NATO alliance published details on an alarming new “international strategy to govern the responsible development and use of biotechnologies and human enhancement technologies.”
On the pretext of unsubstantiated claims that adversaries, including Russia, are planning to deploy chemical and biological weapons, the NATO strategy offers a Brave New World-style vision of the need to fast track the development of biotech and human enhancement (BHE) technologies, predicting that they will “transform our economies, societies, security and defense in unprecedented and unforeseeable ways.”
NATO cites the AI-assisted modification of biological processes, cells and cellular compounds as “opportunities” to “enhance our defense and security,” including via “biotechnological and non-biotechnological interventions that enable individuals to operate beyond normal human limits or abilities.”
This scary new BHE push has been met with opposition from social conservatives worldwide, who have cited work in this direction as a means to establishing unprecedented levels control over humanity.
